A Book Critique of The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age

A Book Critique of The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age

Submitted to Dr. C. Fred Smith, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the completion of the course

APOL 500 – B01
Introduction to Apologetics

IntroductionIn L. Russ Bush’s Christian apologetic work, The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age, he details the development and apparent fallacy associated with the modern naturalist worldview. Bush, a professor at Southeast Baptist Theological Seminary, focuses on the idea of inevitable progression within the modern worldview and provides an overview of this view’s promulgation within epistemology. Bush asserts Christians are no longer socially the majority in their beliefs regarding a world created by God and thus the civil authorities are no longer there to protect their beliefs, as in centuries past. Therefore, it is critical to have a Christian response to modern naturalism. Bush approaches this evolutionary worldview from a philosophical perspective and not as a scientist. The goal of his thesis is not to convince the reader of the scientific merits of Christianity, but to expose the erroneous beliefs found in the modern naturalistic worldview when compared to Christianity. Summary

Bush’s overall purpose in this book is to show the failings of the modern naturalist philosophy, especially when compared to the truths found in biblical Christianity. Bush organizes his exposition into eight chapters, which sets out to dismantle the modern naturalistic worldview. Early on within the book, Bush adopts the phrase “Advancement” which he uses to describe the naturalistic philosophy for inevitable progress within the modernist worldview. Advancement, as Bush explains, is an applicable term for both modernist and post-modernist philosophies. The modernist worldview blends natural historic development with inevitable progress and Bush...